Joel and Ethan Coen

Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers, are Jewish-American film directors best known for their quirky comedies such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, as well as for darker film noir dramas such as Fargo and Blood Simple. The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, alternating top billing for the screenplay. Until recently, Joel received sole credit for directing the films, and Ethan for producing, but the two brothers work so closely together and share such a strong vision of what their films are to be that actors report that they can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer. The brothers are known in the film business as "the two-headed director."

Other techniques

Storyboarding

The Coen brothers storyboard their films completely before filming (unlike most directors, who only storyboard complex shots such as action sequences). They state that it helps them get the budget they want as they can show where most of the money will be going.

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Color correction

O Brother, Where Art Thou? was the first film fully color corrected from start to finish with digital techniques. The reasoning behind this was that the brothers wanted the scenery to reflect the "dust-bowl" atmosphere of the Depression. Since the actual landscape for many of the scenes was much lusher and greener than the desired effect massive color correction was required. This, in turn, required extensive color correction throughout the film, thus the use of graphic computers to perform the correction.

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